Social Partners ponder next move
Stabroek News
November 19, 2002
The Social Partners were up to press time last night still meeting to determine the way forward in trying to get agreement from the major political parties on its draft communiqué on crime.
The burden of getting a consensus on the document was thrown back in the lap of the Social Partners after the major political parties expressed confidence that the grouping could achieve the required consensus.
Last Friday, the Social Partners asked the PPP/C and PNCR to meet and resolve its differences over the document after the PNCR submitted a number of amendments to the draft the partners felt accommodated the concerns raised by the parties.
Spokesperson for the Social Partners, Private Sector Commission chairman, Dr Peter deGroot told Stabroek News that last evening's meeting was to see what steps if any the partners could take to bring a speedy resolution to the completion of the communiqué.
For over a month, the Social Partners have been going to and fro between the sides seeking to accommodate their concerns.
Since the initiative was undertaken, three of the five February 23 escapees from the Camp Street jail, who sparked the current crime wave, have been killed. A number of other persons have died in mysterious circumstances as a result of what is now widely believed to be a gang war.
PNCR general secretary, Oscar Clarke last week told Stabroek News that his party remains committed to the Social Partners' initiative but would not be party to a document that it could not sell to its supporters.
He contended that the document presented as the final draft took no account of its concerns, claiming that this was as a result of the government's unwillingness to compromise.
Clarke said unless the PPP is willing to come to the table and negotiate in good faith, the PNCR would not allow it to have its way.
But Information Liaison to President Bharrat Jagdeo and PPP executive member, Robert Persaud in an email response to the Social Partners' suggestion that the two parties meet to resolve its difference called the government's submissions "reasonable' and made with the objective of achieving at the earliest opportunity a communiqué that would be acceptable to the Social Partners and the other stakeholders.
